40% of Fire Hydrants Don't Work, More Needed
According to the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) - the national insurance company - there 5.000 fire hydrants in Costa Rica, however, 2.000 or 40% of them are in a bad state of repair and another 4.800 are needed to properly attend to emergencies.

The INS, who operates the state insurance system, also operates the country's fire department  is calling on Legislative Deputies to rescue a project that was buried in the 1998-2002 administration that aims to strengthen the fire department.

Quírico Jiménez Madrigal, of the Partido Unión Patriótica (UP), is spear heading the project that will see the re-introduction of the law "Ley Reguladora de la Instalación, Funcionamiento y Mantenimiento de los Hidrantes" that would ensure sufficient fire hydrants available to meet all emergencies.

This year to date, 11 persons have lost their lives to fire. In March of 2005, the fire department responded to 8.558 emergencies.

"The proper functioning of a fire hydrant is vital to life and property..." added Madrigal.

"The installation of a fire hydrant costs between ¢500.000 and ¢1 million colones (us$1.050 and us$2.100) to which neither the AyA (the water and sewer company), the INS nor the Municipalities want to bear this cost", said Madrigal.

The new law would force developers to create the infrastructure necessary and install fire hydrants in their developments. In addition, Municipalities would have the responsibility to maintain the hydrants, and create a special section o the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AYA) that would design and make recommendations to the installation and maintenance of fire hydrants.

There are many developments in San José that count with only a few fire hydrants and in some cases they are not connected or don't work.  Even in prestigious area like Escazú and Rohrmoser, fire hydrants are few and far between.